OCCO Luxury Spa — Local services in Columbia

My son gave me a "devine spa" pkg as a gift, which includes a 60 min massage, a 60 min facial and a mani/pedi. It is a 3 hour treatment. On the day of my appt. I was feeling under the weather and called to reschedule. I was told that it would cost an additional 50% to reschedule. The pkg orig cost $200, so that would have cost an additional $100. Needless to say, I didnt reschedule. When I arrived I was given a face shield and told I would need to wear it when I came back for the mani/pedi. The massage from Latasha was amazing. She was kind and I felt totally relaxed when she was finished. I was brought back to a little waiting area and waited for 20 mins. The waiting room was freezing. I dont think they have heaters in the back of the building. A girl came in and said she would be doing my facial, but didnt give her name, I was led to another room. It was also freezing in there. Again while waiting for the girl to return to the room, I received a phone call. I had been on the phone for about 5 min, when the girl returned. I motioned that I was on a call. She came back about 3 min later and began the facial. It was a very quick and she left the room very quickly after the treatment. I looked at the time and noticed it had only been a half hour facial rather than an hour. I asked the girl at the front desk why my facial had only been a half hour. She abruptly told me to put on a mask, I told her I could not wear one, she again insisted I put one on. I asked to speak to the manager. She said she was on her way and would be there in 5 min. and told me to put a mask on or leave. I said I would wear the face shield and do the mani/pedi. She said the person doing it was with another client. So I waited outside the building for another 35 min. Then a young girl aggressively approached me and asked what the problem was. I told her I was asking why the facial was only a half hour. She said it was because I was on the phone and used the time. I showed her the call log and pointed out that it was an 8 min call taken before the girl arrived in the room. She told me I was also not wearing a mask and they will deny me service if I dont wear it. Haa, how can I wear a mask when getting a facial? She said they would charge my son the ala carte price and told me to leave. I asked if she was going to charge for the whole hour facial or half hour. She said she was charging for the full hour. I said I thought this was a terrible experience and asked if she would just charge for half hour. She told me to leave and called the police. When they arrived she told them to charge me with trespassing. He asked why and she said that I was disobeying the Governors mask mandate. He told her it was not a mandate and that if it was a salon guideline, she would have to have signs posted. I have never been treated with such disrespect for asking a question. After doing some research, the plump blonde that said she was the manager, isnt even the manager.

I am posting an edit to my review after reading the owners reply. You will do yourself a great justice to stop lying. I was not threatened to be arrested or forcibly removed. You have not provided videos. If you are videoing your clients, I am having you investigated, many of your services require a person to dress and undress. It appears that a couple of your staff have been well trained by your poor people skills. I am not the only one who has noticed this. OCCO spa has gone downhill since this...

My first experience at Occo was both positive and negative. The spa is split into two sections. Upstairs are massages and facials. Downstairs are nails and hair. I had a massage with Raven. Others mentions her in the reviews and I can confirm. She did a fabulous job, it was the best massage I’ve had in Columbia. Then I had a facial with Brittany which was equally great. My mani/pedi was however kind of a disaster. The nail tech was really really sweet but did a really bad job. First I noticed she was shaking a lot and thought she might have been sick, in which case she should not have come to work, but then as we talked she said she had been out drinking the night before so I’m guessing she was super hungover. While it’s totally fine to do whatever she wants, it’s really unprofessional to talk about drinking late into the night before coming to work. As a client, it makes me feel like you’re not going to do a good job. She did fine with the cuticles and nail shaping but the nail painting was a total disaster. She did two coats of color but they didn’t line up so some areas of my nails look lighter or darker. Then she could not line up the top coat layer with the color layers so it looks kinda odd. Also on some fingers she put too much polish and it shrunk while drying and looks all wrinkly. For the pedicure, she did a bad job exfoliating, so much so that my feet felt rougher after the pedicure than before. When I got home I finished scrubbing myself. Good thing I can’t see my toes as well as I can see my fingers because I’m guessing the polish looks funky there too. This nail tech said she has done nails for ten years, I was surprised since I feel like I could have done a better job at home myself. Overall, the whole nail team and area felt unprofessional. Another nail tech took a call on her apple watch while giving a pedicure and all the clients could hear her conversation about when she’d get home and what’s for dinner. Nearby, a front desk employee was either sorting dirty laundry or folding clean laundry. Either way, that should not be done in an area where clients can see. They do have “employee only” areas.

Overall, the upstairs level where they do the massages and facials is super professional and I would say that it deserves the “luxury spa” title. I would definitely come back for those services, but for anyone reading this, for nail services, you are better off going elsewhere. I have had much better mani/pedis at other places in Columbia for a better price. The downstairs area where they do nails is unprofessional and definitely does not fit in a “luxury spa”. Massage: 5 star. Facial: 5 star. Nails: 1 star.

EDIT: the Spa director contacted me to make situation right. They have been really kind and interested in hearing more about my experience and making appropriate changes to improve the customer experience. I am bumping my original review from...

My first red flag was when they REQUIRED my debit/My first red flag was when they REQUIRED my debit/credit card information over the phone before I could book the appointment. When I asked why that was necessary, the girl on the phone said because if you don't cancel within 24 hours of the appointment or don't show up, they charge your card. So...they would have charged me $200 for no work being done? Crazy.

I went in with chestnut brown roots and blonde tips (similar to an ombre), the perfect palette for what I was requesting. I asked them to do black roots into a red. I had atleast 10 example photos of black and red hair. The FIRST time she did my hair, it was dark red roots and coppers tips with lots of blonde showing through. Then they decide to reprocess and go darker; it's tolerable...but nothing like I asked for. I will be sharing a comparison photo of what I asked for and what I got.

I also asked for layers, but INSTEAD it hardly looks like I even got a trim. I also asked for bangs, which she cut dry, and they were sticking up all over the place. So she soaked them with product hoping to help lay them down, then used a flat iron. The bangs were incorrectly cut, I literally could have cut them myself. She took the hair and cut where I said I wanted the length to be. Very choppy and very thin bangs.

To top it all off; poor customer report. Instead of chit chatting, they talk obsessively over product. I was told over the phone a deep condition was considered in the price of $175. I knew some play would happen because of how much color would be needed but the stylist said 'the deep condition is complimentary if you also purchase a take home mask which will run you $34.99 or you can do an application in the store for $15.××'. I asked if this was included to the $200 she quoted me and she said it was not. It must have been obvious I wasnt considering additional products when she told me she'd just go ahead and do it complimentary; but then she starts fast talking me about considering 'professional hair care products' in referrence to their items.

I'll admit, when you first get to the building its warm and adorable. Cute decor, cute as a button stylists and workers, they offer free mimosas (that i don't believe actually has alcohol in it...but even if it did, I didn't get carded, and im not old looking?) their products smell amazing. The girls were really nice about redoing my hair, I felt so embarassed that I even had to complain about my hair, but it is reLly unfortunate that even after a secind try it wasnt right, my hair is over processed, my scalp is raw, and my color and cut are terrible.

I was even nice enough to still pay them the full amount plus a very generous tip, but I will...